October 28, 2012
On a sunny afternoon in the Sunset, Bellarmine and St. Ignatius entered
the day tied for first place in the West Catholic Athletic League. Both
teams feature dual threat quarterbacks who were indeed playmakers for
their respective teams. But in the end, the Bells' ground game grinded
enough yards to give them a 35-28 victory and sole possession of first
place in league play.
Scoring summary: In the first half, St. Ignatius converted on a turnover in Bells territory to take a 7-0 lead on a 15 yard pass by quarterback Jack Stinn. Bellarmine scored the next three touchdowns in the half as quarterback K.J. Carta-Samuels was responsible for the scores on a 38 yard pass, a 3 yard run, and a 35 yard pass.
St. Ignatius converted on another Bellarmine turnover in the third
quarter to lead to an Elijah Dale rushing touchdown of 1 yard to cut the
deficit to 21-14. Carta-Samuels ran for another 3 yard touchdown to
make the score 28-14. In the ensuing possession, Albert Waters weaved
80 yards to bring it back to a seven point deficit at 28-21.
Bellarmine's Joey Sanfilippo scored midway into the fourth quarter on a
29 yard run to increase the lead to 35-21. The Wildcats engineered an
11 play and 80 yard drive that was capped by a 3 yard Stinn pass to
close the scoring at 35-28 as the Bells ran the clock out.
Unit Breakdown:
Bellarmine has a balanced attack as Carta-Samuels is a legitimate
dual-threat quarterback but he can be turnover prone as he had an
opening drive fumble and two interceptions. The Bells have two
underrated running backs in Kenneth Olugbode
and Sanfilippo who helped pick up key yards to extend drives and
eventually to run the clock out. In addition, the offense had some
holding penalties that stalled out drives.
The Wildcats have a
similar offense as the Bells as they also have an effective dual threat
quarterback in Stinn who was apt at scrambling while his favorite
passing target was 6-foot-5 receiver Andrew Vollert. Dale and Albert
Waters are both undersized but tough, shifty runners. The Wildcats are
not one dimensional and are a matchup challenge.
Defense:
In the two key league victories against Serra and St. Ignatius, the
Bells' opponents scored 34 and 28 points respectively. The defense was
not spectacular but has played well enough in a bend but not break
fashion. The Bells did give up a big 80 yard touchdown run to Waters
where containment was broken in the secondary.
The Wildcats had
given up a total of seven points in their previous two games.
Bellarmine is the league standard right now. With season ending games
against Serra and Archbishop Mitty, the Wildcats defensive level will be
revealed in the upcoming matchups.
Special Teams: The
special teams were fairly mundane. Bellarmine missed a PAT but offset
that with a two point conversion. The Wildcats squib kicked it several
times and could not recover the onside kick on their final kickoff.
Next Steps and Analysis:
Bellarmine closes with Valley Christian and Sacred Heart Cathedral who
have a combine one win in league play which Valley Christian had against
Sacred Heart Cathedral. It may presumptuous, but crowing Bellarmine as
WCAL champions is not that outrageous of a statement at this point.
But for the Bells to make a deeper run in postseason, they need to limit
the turnovers and play a more stout defense.
St. Ignatius has a
tougher road with Serra and Mitty as losses to both drops them out of
the top three in league play. The defense has to put up a similar
effort comparable to the offense in these tough matchups. As the season
winds down, these two matchups show the true grit of the team.
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